Sporting goods, restaurant to replace Sears at Alderwood

LYNNWOOD — Alderwood mall plans to demolish the former Sears and replace it with two stores including Dave &Busters, a popular chain restaurant, sports bar and arcade.

Alderwood is luring Dave &Busters from the stalled Lynnwood Place development across the street. The other store is reportedly Dick’s Sporting Goods.

“Dave &Busters is a definite because they’ve been calling us non-stop,” said Todd Hall, Lynnwood’s planning manager.

The mall is expected to ask for a demolition permit from the city some time this week, Hall said. The mall also plans to make several other changes, including adding building pads for a handful of new businesses that would be located in what is now the parking lot.

The mall also wants to rebuild a service area connected to the main building to create a storefront, Hall said.

The 178,000-square-foot Sears shut down earlier this year. General Growth Partners, a Chicago company that owns the mall, is redeveloping the site with joint venture partner Seritage.

The idea is to make the former Sears location an outdoor village, much like what Alderwood has done with the north end of the mall, near the P.F. Chang’s restaurant.

Initial plans call for a 40,000-square-foot building to house Dave &Busters and a 70,000-square-foot, two-story building to house what is expected to be Dick’s Sporting Goods, Hall said.

He didn’t know what other businesses would be coming.

Dave &Busters, which uses the slogan “Eat. Drink. Play,” is kind of a Chuck E. Cheese with beer for adults. Dave &Busters was expected to be a centerpiece at the Lynnwood Place development at the former Lynnwood High School site across 184th Street SW.

Texas-based Cypress Equities built the Costco at 18109 33rd Ave. W two years ago and planned a second phase of the development with hundreds of apartments, retail and restaurants.

But Hall said that Cypress Equities walked away from that project a year ago. And now Dave &Busters is looking to land at Alderwood.

Dave &Busters did not return phone calls. A spokeswoman for Dick’s Sporting Goods said she could not confirm whether her company would locate at Alderwood.

Dave &Busters has been expanding, adding about four new stores a year. The company just announced its first Washington location, at Auburn’s The Outlet Collection.

As for Lynnwood Place, Edmonds School District spokeswoman Debbie Joyce Jakala said in an email that Cypress Equities withdrew interest from completing the second phase of construction at the former high school site. The school district is in negotiations with a second developer.

Lease payments from the project are required by law to go into a capital fund for the school district, Jakala said. Those funds are uncommitted.

It will not replace the need for future bonds, but the school district expects to use the money to make repairs and complete ongoing maintenance at yet to be determined sites, she said.